Let it Ache!
We are a husband and wife who train and run a lot of races together. Heather is on a journey to complete her first 100k race while JD pushes towards a 100 miler. Between the both of us, we have dealt with numerous injuries and thought the title was appropriate!

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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Last week I ran the Veteran's Day 5k and felt pretty decent and ended up with a low 22 min 5k. Horrible any other time but since I haven't ran much all year, I was happy with it. The whole week I was dealing with a sinus infection that just seemed to never get any better. Went on to the doctors on 11/11/2015 and they gave me a bunch of medicine that I probably didn't need as the infection was on its way out. I ran two miles on Tuesday and then 4 on Thursday. After the 4 miler on Thursday, I felt my left hammy tighten up during the run. Of course, I finished the run but on Friday knew it was a little more sore than usual. Both were tight as were my glutes so I did some yoga with Heather and then stretched some more, rolled and did the stick. It started to feel better but the next day I was supposed to run the TAPS 5k with the family. So I woke up, took a hot shower and hoped it would feel better. Didn't. Hmm, ok, let me get the clothes on and see how I feel when I get there. Of course, it was about 40F with 15-20 mph winds which made my hammy feel like shit. I decided I would warm up and it felt ok enough to run but not run hard.

The race was at the Holy Trinity Church in Gainesville, VA so we go there around 0730 for an 0830 race. Went inside to packet pickup, bib'd up and started to see if I could run. It felt tight at first but started to loosen up which made me feel better. I ran about a mile just to get loose and walk down to the start which was behind the church. The RD said we would have to wait 10 or so minutes b/c the paving company was paving a road on our course. Meanwhile, the wind is whipping pretty good I am freezing my ass of. Finally, after ducking in and out of the church to stay warm, he announces he is going to start the race. He says GO and we are off, of course half the kids are out of the gate like Usain Bolt up a nice incline. I hold back hoping I don't feel any pain in my hammy and I don't which is good. We make the turn onto the road by the church and its a straight shot to Wellington which is about 1 mile away. The first mile had us running directly into the 20mph wind and it was like, fuck are you serious. The time for the first mile was 7:11 and the hammy wasn't feeling great but not hurting, the second mile had us run up Wellington to turn around and then come back to the Church. The second mile for me was a 7:13, still shitty. Somehow, I ran a negative split third mile with a time of 6:42 for a time of 22:13. The results had me down for a 6:51 pace which means the course had to be 3.24 miles long yet I didn't have that. Whatever. The last mile, I was behind the master's winner and could of caught him however, I told myself not to run hard as it may injure my hamstring even more and so I ended up 7th overall and 1st in my AG (40-44). Of course, Nic won his age group which was the 10 and under crowd with a time of 24:33 and Zach came in 3rd in the 11/12 group with a time of 24:59. Not bad for the boys. Heather got a 25:04 but this was a tempo run for her and knows she could of ran harder. Her A race is in about 2 weeks so we will see if she can get a PR. Me, I am going to rest the hamstring for 2-3 days and see how it feels for a small run Wednesday or Thursday. If it feels ok, I should be ok to run the Thanksgiving race on the 26th of November - we will see.

Below are some pics of us at the award ceremony afterwords:

Me, receiving the 1st place aware for the 40-44 males.

Nic receiving the 1st place award for the 10 and under boys.

Zach, for receiving 3rd place for the 11/12 males.

Hopefully the hammy is just a tad strained and will see how it feels in a few days.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

After taking 10 days off running to heal my "pain" on the right lateral side of my right foot and dealing with a above average head cold, I figured why not run a 5k today. We decided to run the PR IBC Veteran’s Day 5k in Fairfax, VA. Nic had a 9U Cannons tryout later in the day and Zach had a VSA game in West Virginia so Heather and I let them take the 5k off. However, Heather wanted to get a tempo run in and I just wanted to get a run in b/c I had run 2 miles in 10 days. The 5k was at 11895 Grand Commons Ave., Fairfax, VA 22030 at Fairfax Corner, VA and it was a course we had just run two weeks prior so we both knew it. My legs were pretty fresh but with the head cold just wanted to see if I could get a decent run in. I had no idea what time I would run. So Heather and I do a .75 mile warm-up. I could feel week from not running and being sick but figured getting a nice run in would be good.

The race started at 8:00am so we got to the starting line around 7:50am. I usually like to hop in the front b/c I can usually keep a nice low 6 min pace but today, I figured I would be a min slower so I stayed in the back and wasn't in a real hurry to get out. Anyhey, the gun goes off and the first mile is a tad up and down. After the first mile, I had a decent split of 6:55, not bad for not running at all and just coming back from peroneal tendonosis in my left ankle. My next mile sucked as the second one always does which was a 7:16, I followed it up with a 7:15 third mile and sprinted to the end for a 22:05/7:03 pace good for 37/216 males and 5th out of 28 males in the 40-44 crowd. PR races are always stacked especially on Veterans day when the services run against each other. Anyhey, the only issue I had was a little aching in the left peroneal after the race but that was probably more tightness in the left calf area. Below are some shots of me in the race:

Me finishing the race - I sprint the last .2 of a mile so I was wiped out.

Another shot of me coming into the finish line.

I think this was around mile 2.8 or so coming into the final turns of the race.